Mrs HICKEY - 1994-08-25
The Minister for Health and Community Services told ABC Radio yesterday that doctors should make a professional decision as to when they should stop working. Why would the minister attack dedicated health professionals in this way? Is the minister suggesting that doctors should simply walk away from sick people? Does the minister concede finally that there is a problem with his administration of the health system and that now he has started to blame the doctors for the problems he has created?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker I do not intend to follow the advice given by the member for Barkly on radio yesterday which was that, as Minister for Health and Community Services, I should intervene in the operations of the department. I cannot recall her precise words, but she suggested that I should have a hands-on approach as to how doctors, nurses and other professionals in the health system should do their jobs.
Mr Bailey: No, you should make sure that you employ enough of them to treat the citizens of the Northern Territory.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: As I have said previously in this House, I will not trample on the professionalism of the health workers in the Department of Health and Community Services.
Mrs Hickey: You just did. You said the doctor was at fault.
Mr REED: I will not direct doctors as to how they should provide their services.
Mrs Hickey: You did that yesterday. You said that he could decide when to stop work.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: I will not intervene, as the member for Barkly has suggested in this House before, in deciding who should be recruited by the department ...
Mrs Hickey: Get your priorities right. They are all upside down, I am sorry to say.
Mr REED: ... which doctors should obtain jobs and which doctors should not obtain jobs.
Mr Bailey: At least you could make an effort to recruit some.
Mr REED: That is rightly the purview of the Department of Health and Community Services. As I have indicated in this House, under no circumstances will I bring any influence
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to bear on the department as to who obtains a job or how those professional people perform their duties in the Department of Health and Community Services. I know that, if the member for Barkly had the opportunity to be the Minister for Health and Community Services in the Northern Territory, she would intervene in that way, but I will not. I will not do it. For her to suggest that I would or should act in that way is grossly improper.
Mr Bailey: If you spent more time solving the problems of the Territory than of Indonesia, we might get somewhere.
Mr Ede: Just leave people there to die. Is that right?
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: When I am shown a few manners, I will proceed to supply more information to the House and to people who are trying to listen to this broadcast. Obviously, they are a little more interested in these important matters than members opposite.
The concern in relation to excessive working hours in Alice Springs Hospital is a matter that the member for Barkly is alluding to in her question and she also raised this matter yesterday. In his report, the Auditor-General recommended a review of rostering patterns, and that the matter be considered in the future Medical Officers Agreement. That is precisely what has been and is happening. Tomorrow, the new Medical Officers Agreement, which is being tabled before the Industrial Relations Commissioner in Alice Springs, will outline a number of initiatives to address medical staffing issues. Those matters have been determined by the management of the department in conjunction with the staff of the department. That is the right and proper place for those measures to be formulated, and determined. Tomorrow, they will be presented to the Industrial Relations Commissioner. That is the proper process to follow.
Mr Ede: What is your job?
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, I will not intervene in that process because, were I to do so, it would cause confusion and a downgrading of services provided by the Department of Health and Community Services. The professional staff are best placed to do the job. Although the member for Barkly is alleged to have fire in her belly, she would do well to keep out of it and let them do it to the betterment of Territorians.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker I do not intend to follow the advice given by the member for Barkly on radio yesterday which was that, as Minister for Health and Community Services, I should intervene in the operations of the department. I cannot recall her precise words, but she suggested that I should have a hands-on approach as to how doctors, nurses and other professionals in the health system should do their jobs.
Mr Bailey: No, you should make sure that you employ enough of them to treat the citizens of the Northern Territory.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: As I have said previously in this House, I will not trample on the professionalism of the health workers in the Department of Health and Community Services.
Mrs Hickey: You just did. You said the doctor was at fault.
Mr REED: I will not direct doctors as to how they should provide their services.
Mrs Hickey: You did that yesterday. You said that he could decide when to stop work.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: I will not intervene, as the member for Barkly has suggested in this House before, in deciding who should be recruited by the department ...
Mrs Hickey: Get your priorities right. They are all upside down, I am sorry to say.
Mr REED: ... which doctors should obtain jobs and which doctors should not obtain jobs.
Mr Bailey: At least you could make an effort to recruit some.
Mr REED: That is rightly the purview of the Department of Health and Community Services. As I have indicated in this House, under no circumstances will I bring any influence
Page 76
to bear on the department as to who obtains a job or how those professional people perform their duties in the Department of Health and Community Services. I know that, if the member for Barkly had the opportunity to be the Minister for Health and Community Services in the Northern Territory, she would intervene in that way, but I will not. I will not do it. For her to suggest that I would or should act in that way is grossly improper.
Mr Bailey: If you spent more time solving the problems of the Territory than of Indonesia, we might get somewhere.
Mr Ede: Just leave people there to die. Is that right?
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: When I am shown a few manners, I will proceed to supply more information to the House and to people who are trying to listen to this broadcast. Obviously, they are a little more interested in these important matters than members opposite.
The concern in relation to excessive working hours in Alice Springs Hospital is a matter that the member for Barkly is alluding to in her question and she also raised this matter yesterday. In his report, the Auditor-General recommended a review of rostering patterns, and that the matter be considered in the future Medical Officers Agreement. That is precisely what has been and is happening. Tomorrow, the new Medical Officers Agreement, which is being tabled before the Industrial Relations Commissioner in Alice Springs, will outline a number of initiatives to address medical staffing issues. Those matters have been determined by the management of the department in conjunction with the staff of the department. That is the right and proper place for those measures to be formulated, and determined. Tomorrow, they will be presented to the Industrial Relations Commissioner. That is the proper process to follow.
Mr Ede: What is your job?
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, I will not intervene in that process because, were I to do so, it would cause confusion and a downgrading of services provided by the Department of Health and Community Services. The professional staff are best placed to do the job. Although the member for Barkly is alleged to have fire in her belly, she would do well to keep out of it and let them do it to the betterment of Territorians.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016